Norwood schools keep winter recess name

Wednesday

May 7, 2014 at 11:24 AMMay 7, 2014 at 11:24 AM

By Brad Colebcole@wickedlocal.com

The Norwood School Committee is keeping the name winter recess for the 2014-2015 school year.At its meeting on Wednesday, April 30, the School Committee voted 3-2 to approved the calendar with the winter recess moniker. Committee members Paul Samargedlis and Joe Montesano voted against keeping the winter recess name, instead voting for a Christmas/Winter recess.Samargedlis, who made this compromise motion, said it was made not due to religion, but as a response to the non-binding ballot referendum. At the April 3 election, 76 percent of voters voted in favor of changing the name winter recess back to Christmas recess. Samargedlis argued that the reason students receive a winter recess, which will begin on Dec. 23 this year, is because of the Christmas holiday."Why do we get out on the 23rd? If it was a true winter recess, couldnít we arbitrarily get out on the 26th?" Samargedlis asked. "The reason we get out on the 23rd is because Christmas is the 25th."School Committee Chairman Courtney Rau argued that while Samargedlis might be referring to the secular Christmas, the majority of arguments she has heard in changing the name back were religiously based."The language of that non-binding referendum was religiously based," Rau said. "It was phrased in a religious fashion based on religious philosophy."Member James Gormley added that while the committee supports and celebrates Christmas, the school calendar is not the place for a religious statement like Christmas recess."I do not think, in our form of government and our constitution, that it is permissible to place one religious grouping higher standing than another," Gormley said. "None of us oppose the celebration of Christmas. We still recognize that national holiday. We have not removed Christmas from the calendar."Jim Drummey, who organized the petition to get the non-binding referendum on the ballot, said he was not surprised by this outcome."(The School Committee) had indicated pretty strongly that the 76 percent vote did not persuade them," Drummey said. "They voted exactly the way we thought they would. Itís unfortunate we could not persuade them, and we do not find their arguments particularly persuading."Before the vote on the calendar, Lisa Litin, who had two children go through the Norwood Public School system, spoke in favor of the winter recess name. She said spirituality has no place in the schools, and the Christmas/winter recess compromise is hardly a compromise at all."Putting Christmas recess on the school calendar discourages diversity," Litin said. "My kids were told by some other 8-year-olds they couldnít be friends because they didnít share the same religious beliefs."She added that as her kids grew older, they faced different challenges, as field trips and tests would often be scheduled on religious holidays."It is plain wrong that a 12-year-old is excluded from a school trip because it is scheduled on a well-known religious holiday," Litin said.The current school calendar features a list of religious holidays from a variety of faiths, Superintendent James Hayden said. Many of these religious holidays, with the exception of Good Friday, are school days. Per their contract, staff members can take religious holidays off, while students who miss school due to a religious holiday are given an excused absence, Hayden said.Linda Rau, mother of Courtney, also spoke, saying that some members of the community and media, specifically citing "NightSide With Dan Rea," where she said Courtney was portray as a bitter psychopath taking out her anger on the community."For myself, my family and my extended family, this has become quite personal," Linda said. "Itís frightening to hear what people say."Staff writer Brad Cole can be reached at 781-433-8339 or bcole@wickedlocal.com. Like The Norwood Transcript and Bulletin on Facebook and follow @bradcolewrites and @NorwoodTranscri on Twitter.